Tag Archives: apple

A real thing that really happened for real. My self preservation instincts told me to fling the tainted device across the room, but my iPhone preservation instincts superseded them, and I merely placed it back on the table then ran screaming directly into the ocean. I live among the fishes now. They’re always naked, but they don’t even have phones so it evens out.

Oh, and the thing about Smallville is true too. It’s been coming on in the wee hours just before I go to bed and I’ve been catching an episode here and there. It’s not nearly as infuriating as it was during the original run when I was always hoping it was going to go somewhere or Tom Welling was eventually going to learn how to emote.

They’re on season 10 (the final season), and it’s actually highly amusing to see just how “HOLY SHIT WE HAVE LIKE 11 EPISODES LEFT TO TURN THIS POTATO WITH HAIR INTO FUCKING SUPERMAN HOLY FUCK GIVE HIM SOME GLASSES, UMMMM MAKE HIM MOVE TO METROPOLIS OH CRAP OH CRAP 4 EPISODES LEFT, FUCK BRING BACK LEX LUTHOR AND WIPE HIS MEMORY AND A DIFFERENT CLONE OF LEX LUTHOR IS SUPERBOY NOW AND OLIVER AND CHOLE MOVE AWAY BECAUSE NO ONE’S EVER HEARD OF CHOLE AND THE GREE ARROW DOESN’T LIVE IN METROPOLIS AND JESUS SHIT WE KILLED JIMMMY OLSON CAN SOMEBODY GET ME A NEW JIMMY OLSON ANNNNNNNNNND HE’S FLYING,” the whole thing is.

When my Patreon reaches $2000/month$1750/month I’m going to release a new podcast where upon I interview my 7 years old daughter as she reads through the Harry Potter series. It’s called Potter And Daughter!More details HERE.

FUNDRAISER UPDATE: 73/100 “Daddy/Daughter Digital Drawing Time”prints were sold! Although they didn’t all sell I was able to raise enough to pay my tax bill due to a handful of EXTREMELY generous donations from some very Fancy Bastards. I am going to leave the prints up for sale for now, so if you want to get one later you’ll still have a chance. I am, as always, humbled by and grateful for the outpouring of support that you Fancy Bastards show when I am in a time of need.

FUNDRAISER UPDATE: 63/100 “Daddy/Daughter Digital Drawing Time”prints are sold!This is the LAST WEEK to order yours and support my NOT going to IRS jail (a real thing) efforts! After this week I will have the prints produced and we’ll start signing and mailing them out.

FUNDRAISER UPDATE: 61/100 “Daddy/Daughter Digital Drawing Time”prints are sold!This is the LAST WEEK to order yours and support my NOT going to IRS jail (a real thing) efforts! After this week I will have the prints produced and we’ll start signing and mailing them out.

I saw Her right in the middle of writing this part of the current story line, so I had A.I.’s on the brain. My Twitter review of the film went thusly:

“Her” is a gut punch to the head and the heart. In 30 years people will not understand why it was unusual or special at all.

Post singularity kids will see “Her” as grainy, black and white and unrelatable. Like 1950’s sitcom parents sleeping in separate beds.

I don’t want to get into spoilers of the film, but I do suggest that you see it. It’s the kind of movie that tells a very small and personal story that leaves you with HUGE questions about the nature of the larger world the story in set in. That isn’t to say there are mysteries that aren’t answered that leave you frustrated or dissatisfied. It’s more about giving the audience a peek into a world that invites the viewer to get curious and start asking question about the world of the film and about our world, our future and what it means (and what it WILL mean) to be “alive” and in love.

Almost immediately after starting Her, I came to the conclusion that if an A.I. was sophisticated enough, could recreate human conversational speech and emotions well enough that a human could actually fall in love with it. People fall in love over the phone and over the Internet all the time. Sometimes going months if not years without meeting face to face. How would this be any different from the human’s perspective? The same chemicals could be released into the brain regardless of whether or not the voice on the other end causing that release was organic or technological. My point is, the world is going to get pretty weird somewhere in the next 30-50 years.

Assume for a moment the A.I. could actually be self aware enough to truly “feel” those emotions and reciprocate with the human. Would they be “in love?” Would they be a “they?” Would the corporations that programmed the A.I. make changes to your digital significant other without your consent because you didn’t read the EULA closely enough? Would you wake up to find your girlfriend’s server got hacked and she no longer exists or now she only wants to talk about mining Bitcoins? These are the questions that were racing through my mind during and after watching Her. Feel free to ask or answer your own in the comments.

Oh, just great. In addition to rush hour traffic and construction around the airport, NOW I have to deal with am emerging A.I. in my phone? You know, if it’s not one thing it’s the rise of the great machine intelligence that will soon subjugate all of humanity under it’s cold, logical boot heel.

I may or may not be planning to see Her this weekend. I hope Joaquin Phoenix does some raps.